Ozone Garden Interpreter Internship

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Internship Information

VLM Internships are primarily designated for students enrolled in college or program of academic study. Candidates not enrolled in college will be considered on a case by case basis and must follow all guidelines and term lengths.

Department: Education

Name of Internship: Ozone Garden Interpreter Internship

Reports To: Emily Hoffman, Science Educator

Summary of Internship: Under the guidance of the Education Department, the Ozone Garden Interpreter Intern will be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the ozone garden, as well as develop ozone related educational activities that are engaging and promote conservation. This internship is designed to educate about the importance of ozone and its relationship to plant and human health, as well as provide experience in informal education and interpretation.

Length of Internship: Summer only from May/June to Labor Day; 12 hours a week on set schedule.

Qualifications for this Internship:

• The position is open for currently enrolled high school and college students
• Interest in learning biology, botany, plant pathology, atmospheric sciences, education or related fields
• Interest in education and interpretation
• Have an outgoing, self-motivated personality
• Must be willing to actively engaged guests of all ages through hands-on activities
• The majority of this internship will take place outdoors during the summer - an ability to be outside, in the summer heat is preferred

• Willingness to get your hands dirty maintaining the garden

• Must be organized, able to stick to a weekly schedule, and able to work with minimum amount of supervision
• Basic skills using Microsoft Office Products, mainly Word and Excel

The intern will gain experience in the following areas:

• The opportunity to learn basic plant identification
• Ability to identify and quantify ozone plant injury
• Learn how to positively engage guests in a variety of hands-on activities while explaining different science topics
• Develop new activities, test them on guests at the garden, evaluate their pros and cons and present results at the end of the internship

• Develop science communication and interpretation skills

Duties:

• Help maintain the health of the garden by keeping up with weekly watering, weeding, and pruning
• Actively engage visitors with current ozone garden activities and utilize evaluation sheets to assess pros and cons of each activity
• Develop new ozone garden related activities
• Test new ozone garden activities and utilize evaluation sheets to assess pros and cons
• Attend bi-monthly meetings with supervisor to talk about progress with the garden, the current activities, the new activities and overall value of the internship
• Create a presentation based on evaluation of the activities to be presented at the end of the internship

Expectations of Interns in this Internship:

• Proficient at interpreting ozone information to guests
• To increase guest interest in the garden through hands-on activities
• To develop a new activity for guests to better interact with the garden

Culminating Project: The intern will create a new activity that will be presented or demonstrated to the Education Department and other staff members at the end of the internship.

Evaluation and Feedback: An evaluation of the intern’s progress will take place at the halfway mark of their internship as well as at the conclusion of the internship. The museum’s standard Intern Evaluation form will be used. The intern will also have the opportunity to provide feedback to the Education Department through bi-monthly meetings. These meetings will also assess the progress of the intern’s new activity and evaluate any successes and/or challenges of the current activities.

Application Instructions: Please submit an official VLM volunteer application (available at www.thevlm.org), along with a resume, cover letter and unofficial transcript. Application materials should demonstrate some prior knowledge of plants. Deadline to apply: May 5, 2019.